Juventus were handed a narrow 1-0 defeat away from home at Napoli in last weekend’s Serie A defeat but the Old Lady return to their Allianz Stadium for Monday night’s clash against basement dwellers, Crotone, no doubt eager to return to winning ways as they look to cement their place in the top four.
That loss away at Napoli ended a three-match winning streak for Juventus who had compiled wins against Bologna, Sampdoria and Roma, each of these victories being by a 2-0 margin, while recent results have seen Juventus win six of their last eight matches overall.
The hosts still have some catching up to do though if they’re to emerge as serious title contenders for the Serie A crown as they trail the current league leaders, Inter Milan, by an eight-point margin but having lost just once at home all season, Juve look set to at least add to their points tally here.
In addition winning their last four matches at home on the trot with victories over Udinese, Sassuolo, Bologna and Roma, Juventus have also been leading at half-time in six of their 10 home matches so far this season.
Onto Crotone, and the visitors remain firmly rooted to the bottom of Serie A having lost their last four matches on the trot, losing to Fiorentina, Genoa, AC Milan and Sassuolo respectively whilst conceding 11 goals and scoring just 2 in reply.
Crotone have been on the end of the losing side on a regular basis throughout this season’s Serie A campaign so it’s perhaps unsurprising that the visitors find themselves rock bottom of Serie A and five points adrift of Torino and safety.
Seven defeats out of their last eight matches suggest that this upcoming trip to face a Juventus outfit who’ll be keen to hang onto their top four position doesn’t bode well for Crotone, especially as Crotone have also lost their last five away matches on the trot.
Defeats at Sampdoria, Inter Milan, Hellas Verona, Fiorentina and AC Milan have seen Crotone ship a total of 17 goals in this period and indeed, the visitors have failed to win any of their last 13 matches on their travels, losing 11 of these.
The odds therefore look to be firmly stacked against Crotone here with Juventus expecting to take an early lead and grab all three points by the end of the 90 minutes.